Three issues in curating

Fundraising and budget are a challenge for an exhibition. George (2015) states that ‘it is increasingly difficult to obtain major injections of cash. However, it is somewhat easier to approach specific organization asking for specific things, rather than finance.’ This is a common phenomenon in China because the Chinese Central government has not formulated specific policy to support the investment in the commercial exhibition. Although the government does support the cultural activities, it is not specific enough or effective in practice. Furthermore, the sponsors and patrons cannot get tax paid back in China in comparison with western counties. As a result, the business is reluctant to inject the cash to support cultural activities. However, in fact, the number of commercial exhibitions is sharply increasing. Many companies pay attention to the function that promotes the reputation of their products in exhibitions.In this case, they may prefer to support exhibitions in kind. For example, the drink companies is willing to provide soft drinks for exhibitions. The problem is that how could a curator fully utilize this kind of resources?

The second area I am interested in is that how could a curator balance the differences between commercial objectives and cultural objectives? In China, many exhibitions emphasize their aims are cultural objectives but they always bring a sense of product promotion. In my opinion, the companies are likely to package their product as artworks and curator, in this context, is working as a packager. On this occasion, the criticisms can be founded from academic journals in China. The problem is that how could a curator redefine their role in exhibitions?

The third field is that how to build an accountability system in a museum or gallery. For instance, artworks may be impaired because of some non-artificial factors, such as weather. Theoretically, the manager of these artworks has a responsibility in protecting artworks. The museums in western countries have built the accountability system. The question is that how could China borrow the experience from westerners to some extent?